The Curse of Roberta's Purse
by Susan Hilton
Summary: Claudia opens a new and unusual artifact-Roberta Lincoln's purse-with unexpected results. Please review.
1. The Warehouse's Newest Find

The Curse of Roberta's Purse

Chapter One

Claudia watched as Artie opened the box which held the warehouse's newest find. It looked pretty harmless. It was a very colorful orange purse, with fake flowers on it. It was over forty years old, but beautifully preserved. It was the purse that she had seen in her youth in the original Star Trek. Claudia, being only in her twenties, had not seen every episode, nor was she much of a fan. However, even though she had only seen it once, she had enjoyed this particular episode when her parents purchased the DVD's and encouraged her to watch them. In fact, when she joined the Warehouse 13 crew, she felt inspired because of it. Artie knew that the episode that the purse supposedly came from was based on real people. The episode had been played down because their covert organization did not want to be exposed. Gene Roddenberry was not allowed to continue with the idea of making the adventures of Gary Seven or Roberta Lincoln a series because of that possibility. Artie thought it would have been spectacular, but he could see their point. If they had continued, then people might have actually believed it. Of course, no one else knew that there was a real Gary Seven or a real Roberta Lincoln, or that this was the actual purse that belonged to a very real woman agent in the nineteen sixties. The real Roberta and Gary had been the first covert agents for the state of New York for a sister warehouse named Warehouse 7, and also for the real "Men in Black". To expose them so early would have been very dangerous for not only the organization, but for the original agents themselves.

"Oh…Artie…it's so funky! May I hold it?"

"Yes, but be careful. Don't –"

She opened it and a strange orange light emanated from it. Instantly, she vanished.

"—Open it. Damn." Artie finished, staring at the space where she had stood in dismay. Now what were they going to do, and where had she gone?

Claudia stood on a busy sidewalk in a large unknown city, wondering how she got there. She felt very different, and looked down at herself. Gasping, she saw that she was wearing a colorful pink and orange striped dress with a short skirt. A black sash adorned her waist. The dress had a matching cape, and she then realized that it was chilly outside. Wherever she was now, it was apparently in the late fall. White tights wrapped themselves snugly on her legs. On her feet were white flats. The chain attached to the purse she had seen moments before in the warehouse was in her right hand, and she saw that she was wearing white gloves. As she approached a large office building, she saw in the reflection from the window that her hair was now blonde, a little longer, and cut in a page boy style. Aghast, she realized that she had been transformed into the likeness of Roberta Lincoln. Not knowing what else to do, she entered the building, trying desperately to remember "Assignment: Earth", not recalling very much at the moment. Something told her to open the purse for directions on where to go. She fumbled with it for a moment, and then took the gloves off, wondering briefly why women from this era wore them even when their hands were not that hard to look at. She then figured it must have been a fad. Quickly, she located a slip of paper that had the address, stepped into an elevator, and pressed the button for the twelfth floor.

She also now wondered if she should pretend to be who she now resembled. She knew absolutely nothing about the nineteen sixties, nor could she remember what Roberta was doing here. Sighing, she decided it was best to play along. She opened the door to the apartment and stepped in. Seeing a closet, she removed the cape, opened the door and hung it on the rack.

"Hello? Anybody here?" She called out.

An older man who looked remarkably like the newest James Bond stepped into the room with a stern expression.

"Where have you been?" He asked gruffly.

This Roberta, not knowing what to say, just stood there in silence.

"Where have you been?" The man asked again, this time more forcefully.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Besides, I don't even know who you are. Why should I tell you anything?"

"I'm Supervisor 194, Code named Gary Seven, as if you don't already know. Where have you been in the last three Earth days? Stop kidding around, 201. Where's agent 347?"

Claudia shrugged.

"With 348?"

"201, code responses are not necessary. Have a seat." He gestured towards a comfortable-looking office chair and a white electric typewriter. "Now I want you to type everything you have done in the last three days."

She looked at him helplessly, trying to think of what she could possibly type that would be of any interest to this man, and she did not want to reveal anything about Warehouse 13.

"Uh, everything I've done?"

The man nodded and handed her a piece of paper. She took it and put it in the typewriter, while he pushed a button on its underside. She started to press some keys and he stopped her.

"Not with your fingers!"

"Now how do you expect me to type, with my elbows?"

She was surprised when the machine started to type everything she just uttered all by itself. She did not recall this machine from the episode and was very impressed, thinking that she would like to take it apart to see how it worked.

"Wow, this is so cool! Where can I get one of these? Artie would love this!"

"Who is Artie?"

"A friend of mine." She answered quickly. Without thinking, she added, "I didn't know technology like this existed in the nineteen sixties."

The man named Gary Seven withdrew his servo, now suspicious of her. He aimed it at the door to his apartment and locked it, now considering her a possible security risk.

"Computer, scan unidentified female present."

_"Roberta Lincoln. Race: human. Occupation: secretary. Employed by agents 347 and 201. Identifying characteristics: small mole on left shoulder...somewhat larger star-shaped birthmark on her upper right buttock. Although her behavior appears erratic and incongruous, she possesses a high I.Q.."_

Claudia grinned at him, now thinking that after forty-two years, learning the location of Roberta's star-shaped birthmark was well worth the wait. She then frowned in the direction of a little green cube, flashing next to the typewriter, recalling that it was some type of scanning device hooked up to the very sophisticated computer, and thinking that it knew way too much about her friend Roberta, also wondering if Seven's bunch employed some voyeurs to get this kind of detailed information.


	2. Roberta in the Warehouse

The Curse of Roberta's Purse

Chapter two

Because of the subway getting stalled, Roberta had to hustle to make it to her new job as a researcher for a new firm that manufactured encyclopedias. Her new employers were a little mysterious and did not give her very many details about her new position. They had given her an address for their supposed publishing firm, telling her that if she could not reach them by phone, then she should go to a high rise apartment on 68th street. They seemed a little distracted and agitated about something, but she did not want to pry, thinking that because of the location of the firm, it might be a fly-by-night outfit. However, because she was young and a bit desperate for cash, and the rent on her brownstone apartment was almost due, she took them up on their offer of employment, hoping that they were legitimate.

She sprinted down the uneven city sidewalk, did a little dance with an older gentleman who stood in her path, tripped and fell. She closed her eyes for a second as she landed on her backside onto…a hard wood floor. Opening her eyes, she was surprised to find out that the scenery around her had changed. She was obviously no longer in New York. It took a moment for her eyes to get adjusted to the decreased light, and it was agreeably warm in this place. A bit winded from running, she did a quick search for her purse, having dropped it when she fell. It was nowhere to be found. She looked down at herself, and found that she was dressed like a biker chick; with black leather pants and a jacket to match. She was no longer wearing gloves. Her hair felt different too; shorter, with no curl, body or bounce. Baffled, she looked around as she got up off the floor. Apparently, she was in a large, run-down old building filled from floor to ceiling with what looked like antiques and memorabilia. _"Where the heck am I?" _ She asked herself. From behind, she heard a sound like a motor. She turned around and saw a bearded dark-haired middle-aged gentleman with beady eyes and spectacles, driving a motorized cart.

"Oh, there you are, Claudia!" He said, relief evident in his voice. "Hop on. We need to get back to the office. What happened to you, anyway?"

Roberta frowned, trying to figure out who this guy was and how he knew her. She had never seen him before in her life. She complied with his request to get on the cart, the items surrounding her suddenly, for no apparent reason, giving her the heebee jeebies.

"I'm not sure." She answered honestly. "Who are you? What am I doing here? Where am I?"

"Does that old purse cause amnesia? The story of the history of that artifact that came in the box with it didn't say anything about the curse causing memory problems. Are you all right?"

"Fine… I think. Sir, I have no idea who you are or what you are talking about. What curse? Who is Claudia?"

"You are…aren't you?" The man suddenly sounded less certain that she was that Claudia person.

"No, my name is Roberta Lincoln. Who are you and where in the world am I?"

"Oh, great. You are Roberta? What happened to Claudia?"

Roberta shrugged, as the man shook his head with dismay, knowing now that somehow a transposition had taken place. How was he going to explain to this denizen of the nineteen sixties that she was now in the year 2010, and no longer in New York, but in a secret location in South Dakota? Also, being that she looked like Claudia, he thought it was safe to assume that his new computer whiz kid now looked like Roberta, and, by now, was probably trying to adjust to the fact that she was in an era when she wasn't even born yet.

The legend was typed on a piece of paper, yellowed with age. It stated that the fictional Roberta hadn't worked out as an intergalactic secret agent. In retaliation, she had gone to a groovy, happening, far-out gypsy fortune teller friend of hers, putting a curse on the purse. The curse was that any female who came in possession of the purse would be transported to the nineteen sixties, transposed with the fictional Roberta. The curse didn't work quite the way they expected it to. Instead of the fictional Roberta being transposed with whoever opened the purse, the real one switched places with the unlucky future female. That was good in a way. That meant that the episode "Assignment: Earth" was unchanged. Every female who came into possession of the purse in the next forty-two years had to relive the real adventure of Gary Seven, Isis and Roberta Lincoln's first meeting, and each re-enactment was different, depending on the individual. Strangely enough, nobody ever had the feeling of déjà vu. Artie wondered if the actress who played Roberta, Teri Garr, was ever transposed with the character. Somehow, he doubted it, but found the thought to be intriguing.

Supervisor 194 studied the face of the new arrival, apparently named Roberta, closely.

"Miss Lincoln…What kind of work did your employers hire you to do?"

Claudia thought hard, and then remembered. She thought it was kind of a lame thing for those agents to come up with.

"Research…for a new encyclopedia?"

"I don't think so. That's not what we do here. Dog gone it, Miss Lincoln, I'm going to have to keep you here for security reasons. You obviously know too much already, thanks to me and the incompetence of my agents. Please, come with me into the next room. I have to find out where they are."

Staying in his apartment was fine with Claudia, being that she had no idea what city she was in and she would have nowhere to go. She didn't even know where Roberta lived. She then noticed a lovely black cat with a shimmering collar as it jumped onto the nearest chair. It meowed at her as if to ask who she was.

"I already know what happened to your agents." She stated plainly. He stared at her in astonishment.

"You do? Pray tell me."

"They were killed in a car accident near a McKinley Rocket Base…wherever that was…I mean, is." Her memory of the episode helped, but she also saw a map of the base on Seven's desk, near the secret entrance to his safe-like transporter.

"You're joking. For them to die in something as useless as an automobile accident…I will have to verify this with my computer. Oh, and Miss Lincoln, whatever you see in here cannot be divulged with anyone."

Claudia smiled.

"Who would believe it?"


	3. Future Girl

The Curse of Roberta's Purse-chapter 3

"How did you know?" Seven asked Claudia suspiciously, as the computer told him what had become of his agents.

Claudia was more interested in the machine than she was in his growing suspicion of her. It was an incredible piece of work for the nineteen sixties, and she wondered at the interactive software, which could hold a two-way conversation with its human operator. She had seen examples of what computers were really like in this era; big, cumbersome, noisy and temperamental. This machine was more like Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey, a movie that she knew was due to come out in this year that she found herself in. She decided to spill the beans and tell him a little bit about herself.

"I have to tell you something, Mr. Seven. You will figure it out eventually, so here goes: I'm an electronics expert and an agent from the two thousands and where I come from, you are famous. I can go with you and make sure that the warhead will go off course the way you want. I also know that Kirk and Spock are due to show up any moment, and it would be good if we took off in your transporter as soon as possible. We can't let them interfere with history, and, sir, I do want to eventually be born."

He stared at her in stunned silence for a long moment, trying to decide if she just escaped from a loony bin or if she was really from the future. He decided on the latter, for he knew that there was not much time until the two men from the starship appeared at his door. Also, Isis had confirmed the fact that Claudia was definitely not from this era, having the ability to see her in her true form, telling him that she knew too much about what he was about to do. The cat was also telepathic, which explained how she was able to communicate non-verbally to Seven. He nodded and scooped Isis up and ushered Claudia into the transporter. The two heard the doorbell chime in the next room and a loud knock as they dematerialized. Claudia had noticed that Seven had left the blueprints of the rocket base out on his desk in his haste to depart before the men from the Enterprise could catch them.

As soon as they arrived at the rocket base and stepped out of the storage facility via the transporter, they were met by a security officer named Lipton, who asked to see his credentials. Gary put Isis down and admonished her to not get stepped on. Isis created a diversion by screeching and Mr. Seven swiftly took out his servo, stunning the officer. He took the security phone receiver from the man's hand, pretended to be him, and told whoever was on the other end that everything was all right.

"Is he all right?" Claudia asked, looking at the fellow curiously, who was wearing a silly smirk on his face. Seven escorted him inside a parking garage and told him to take a little nap on the floor. Apparently, the servo gun made people susceptible to suggestion, because the man named Lipton did just that. Seven nodded at her.

"He isn't harmed." He looked down at Isis, who was communicating telepathically with him again. "You should get one of these servos, Miss Lincoln. Those Tesla guns you use in the future might cause a lot of harm if used long-term. Come on. Let's get going. There isn't much time, future girl. Let's see what you can do. Nice job, Isis."

They swiftly made their way into the gantry and ascended in the elevator to the nuclear warhead's main hatchway. Gary Seven decided to just open the hatch for her and stay out of sight, just in case Kirk and company decided to beam him up, but stayed close by in case something went wrong. He could finish the job if she was intercepted.

Claudia found the inner components to the rocket to be very simple in design. She was finished setting it to go off course in no time. Seven was very much impressed, but, as soon as she finished, she disappeared in a shower of sparkles. He couldn't risk closing the hatch himself, so Isis morphed into human form and closed it. The two left before the rocket launched, going back to his apartment.

Roberta wasn't sure what to make of her present predicament, and she still didn't believe that she was over forty years in the future. As they traveled down the long corridors of assembled oddities and what looked like stuff that belonged in a museum, she tried to figure out what had happened and how she got here. However, she was stumped, so remained silent as they reached their destination. As they stepped into the office, she saw her purse at last, but another dark-haired older woman named Myka was examining it. She, too, had opened it, but this time it did not transport her anywhere. They guessed that wherever Claudia had disappeared to, she would have to relive the entire adventure, and would probably return when it was over. Roberta then saw some really futuristic gizmos in the office, and was partially convinced as she approached some sort of television screen, but soon found out that it wasn't what she thought it was. Artie told her it was a monitor for a personal computer, and not to touch it. She had never heard of a personal computer before, nor could she imagine anyone having one. Artie told her that nearly everyone in the world had access to these computers in this day and age. An agent named Peter looked puzzled, seeing who he thought was Claudia standing right there among them. Artie had to explain that it wasn't her, but the real Roberta Lincoln, and that somehow, she and Claudia had switched places. The male agent looked amused at this, and thought Artie was joking. After a few minutes, though, he could see that he was not. Roberta was getting a little miffed, not really buying the bit about her purse having the power to transport people in time. She wanted her purse back, but the beady-eyed older man would not let her near it. He told her that he was thinking of her safety, saying that there was some sort of curse on her purse; that any woman who had it in her possession and opened it for the first time would get transported back into the sixties. She thought that that was the most ridiculous thing she ever heard in her life. Artie asked her to explain her presence in this warehouse, knowing that somewhere in time, her fictional counterpart had been responsible for putting the curse on the purse. She admitted that she didn't know how it happened. Artie knew that she needed a little more convincing, so had the woman named Myka take her outside the compound to convince her. They knew that Roberta wouldn't be convinced out here in the boonies, so Artie told his agent to bring her to the nearest town. They forgot about one thing: the supersonic football that Peter Lattimer, the male agent she had just met in the warehouse, liked to play with was on its way. That artifact was the first thing Lattimer and Myka Bering had encountered when they were recruited for Warehouse 13. The football had the incredible ability to travel around the world in a day, if thrown just right. As soon as Roberta stepped out the door, it slammed into her forehead, knocking her out.


	4. Claudia and the Nuclear Warhead

The Curse of Roberta's Purse-chapter 4

Gary Seven was no ordinary run-of-the-mill human male of the nineteen sixties. He and his other agents were especially bred for this planet, being that their ancestors came from Earth. The aliens who raised them from test tubes had removed all genetic anomalies from their DNA, making them flawless physically. Seven's attitudes towards the opposite gender, he knew, were a lot more progressive than the average man from this troubled era, which is why he let the young lady named Roberta sabotage the warhead. He could sense great intelligence about her, even though he wondered what the Enterprise crew was going to do with her. He also knew that they wouldn't harm her, but most likely hold her for questioning. He had considered a rescue attempt, but there was no time, and he did not want to be caught by Kirk again. His mission on this planet was too important to risk being re-captured. There would likely be other warheads to throw monkey wrenches into. He realized, too, that women in this era were generally treated as little more than unpaid domestic servants. Because he knew what the future held, and knew that this Roberta was from the future, he had a unique perspective. He knew that women, if given a chance, could make vast improvements in the lives of the people on this small blue planet called Earth. They were a natural resource on this planet, too long ignored. He being born and raised on another planet far more advanced in every way also gave him a special insight when it came to the inner workings of the mind of the young woman who was just beamed up to the Enterprise, after successfully sabotaging a nuclear warhead with such rapidity that he thought she might be a genius. She seemed very different than the average female of this era, this Roberta Lincoln, and he believed Isis when she told him telepathically that the girl was from the future, and worked for a top secret division of the United States federal government, which sole purpose was to collect dangerous and trouble-causing mystic artifacts and store them safely in an equally secret warehouse facility. At times, he had worked for the same division, and marveled at the fact that the girl, according to Isis, was from over forty years in the future. He also wondered what artifact had transported her here. He was aware of the fact that soon women were going to start demanding respect and equality, and that they were tired of the mythology that women were responsible for the entire world's troubles. With this in mind, Seven ordered the computer on and studied the readouts. He was also locked in on the McKinley rocket base's communications, and gasped in dismay when he realized where Miss Lincoln had diverted the rocket. It was heading into space, after he had ordered the computer to arm the warhead, in an effort to scare them out of this ridiculous arms race. He hoped that the Enterprise crew realized that this was not his doing, being that the warhead was now headed straight for them. He had the ability to see their ship through their shielding, while the rest of Earth's inhabitants had no clue as to what was happening in the space above them. Perhaps he was too quick to come to the conclusion that Miss Lincoln was a genius.

As Claudia materialized in a seated position on a transporter platform, she was as astonished as the man in the red shirt who had just manipulated the controls. Here she was, probably the only person from the twenty-first century to actually be beamed up to a real starship by real Starfleet officers. She felt a little tingly from the effects of the transporter as she was helped to her feet by a security officer, who called Captain Kirk to the transporter room. The captain soon arrived with Mr. Spock as the effects of the device began to wear off.

"Holy Shatner, Batman! These guys are real!" She said softly, stepping down from the transporter platform. She had only half-believed they were really in orbit when she had set the rocket to divert its course to head into space. Seven's reaction to her mentioning Kirk and Spock should have tipped her off that they were really up here, in orbit around Earth, invisible to the primitive sensing devices of the nineteen sixties. Spock raised an eyebrow.

"Greetings, young woman. Who are you, what were you doing with the nuclear warhead, and why is Mr. Shatner considered holy?"

"Easy with the twenty questions, Spock." The captain said, noticing that the young woman looked quite astounded and a bit disoriented. This captain Kirk did closely resemble William Shatner. Claudia had never met anyone particularly famous before, and she stared at him incredulously. "Hello, Miss." The Shatner look-alike said, not without some compassion, recalling the reaction of Captain Christopher, no doubt. "I am Captain James T. Kirk and you are on a spaceship called the Enterprise. We…uh…are from the future."

"Yes, I know, sir. Nice to meet you. We don't have a lot of time to chit chat. My name is Roberta Lincoln." She was amazed that her lie about being Roberta slipped out so easily. "I work for Mr. Seven at present. He is certainly not a threat to this planet. He's here to help people of this world develop into a peaceful race. I had just set the rocket to divert its course into space when you…beamed me up. I hope that you can destroy it before it reaches your ship."

Kirk's eyes widened as he swiftly went to the transporter controls and flipped a communications toggle.

"Double red alert! This is no drill! Chekov, there is a nuclear warhead headed straight for us! You are ordered to intercept it and destroy it with our phasers immediately!"

"Aye, Captain!" Replied the young Russian navigator as the red alert alarm sounded. "I have a visual on it now." They all heard the sound of the Enterprise's powerful phasers as it blasted the warhead out of existence. "It is destroyed, sir." He announced, relief evident in his heavily accented voice.

"Secure from general quarters." He glanced back at Spock. "That was close." He then looked at the young lady who called herself Roberta Lincoln. She did not look like she was capable of such a feat as diverting a nuclear warhead. He wondered if anyone on Earth had detected the Enterprise when it fired. Then, he considered that they probably hadn't. Being that the warhead was now destroyed, and, to those down below, mysteriously, he thought that perhaps they would not risk manufacturing another for quite some time. After all, these things would be expensive to produce. He also recalled reading in his history texts as a cadet that some space probes sent to Mars were also mysteriously destroyed. The destruction of their missle would most likely remain a mystery as well. "Come with us, Miss Lincoln. There are a couple hundred questions we would like to ask you."

Mrs. Fredericks soon appeared as Artie was filling an ice pack for who she thought was Claudia Donovan. Apparently, she had been knocked unconscious by something. The black lady regent of Warehouse 13 asked Artie what had happened, and he told her that that football that agent Peter Lattimer had encountered when he and agent Bering had first been recruited for the warehouse had whopped poor Roberta out. He thought there was no real reason to lie to the regent, and told her that she had switched places with Claudia, via Roberta's groovy little cursed purse. He had ordered Peter to put the football away inside its box, after dunking it in the purple fluid which neutralized the artifacts' powers. He then wondered what kind of effect this would have on Claudia in the nineteen sixties. There was no way that he knew of to contact her to let her know that Roberta would probably be unconscious for a lot more than an hour. He knew that this episode lasted less than an hour with all the commercials taken out. She would probably just have to bide her time until poor Roberta regained consciousness. Mrs. Fredericks admired Artie for his honesty concerning the real identity of the unconscious young girl as he applied the ice pack to her bruised brow. She opened her Farnsworth and called for a doctor. They couldn't risk bringing the girl from the nineteen sixties to a hospital, being that this was a secret organization. There would be too many questions asked, and they couldn't have that. The doctor she had chosen was a good friend of her family. He was Caucasian, of average build, sporting a mustache and a goatee. He resembled the late band leader of the nineteen sixties, Mitch Miller. His name was Frances Dupree and he was the head physician of their organization. He was from Mississippi, as was Mrs. Frederick; from a tiny town just outside of Jackson called Raymond.


	5. History Lesson

The Curse of Roberta's Purse-Chapter 5

After Kirk and Spock questioned her about Gary Seven and his activities, Claudia was escorted onto the bridge and introduced to Lieutenant Uhura. When she arrived, they were having an interesting discussion about the only three man-made satellites in orbit in this time period: Sputnik, which was launched by the Russians in October of 1957 and Telstars 1 and 2, launched in 1962 and 1963, respectively. Spock stated that none were a threat to them. Telstar had suffered mechanical failure due to high levels of natural and artificial radiation; the artificial radiation was from the nuclear devices such as the one they just destroyed with their phasers. The natural radiation was, of course, caused by exposure to the sun. Spock gave a little history lesson as Claudia listened, the crew unaware that she was hearing this information for the first time in her life. According to the Vulcan and Mr. Chekov, the launching of Sputnik ignited the space race, including the famous Moon Landing. The Space Race was a term Claudia had heard about, but never fully understood until Spock explained that the race was to get some technology from the United States in orbit, and that the Soviet launch fueled concerns that the Russians might be superior in technology to the United States, and were getting ready to attack them with their own nuclear missles. After all, if they could launch a harmless communications satellite, they might be capable of launching a nuclear warhead from space. Claudia, who by now was concerned that she was starting to lose herself in the guise of Roberta Lincoln and not knowing the reason why, observed the young Russian navigator of the starship Enterprise beaming with pride as Spock mentioned Sputnik. She thought he was just as cute as the actor who portrayed him in the television series. She now was starting to forget what it was called, also not knowing why.

Apparently, the folks on twentieth century Earth, according to some news broadcasts that Uhura had picked up were not as primitive as she thought. Some scientists at the Keck observatory in Hawaii had observed the Enterprise phasers blasting the rocket out of existence and had contacted the authorities, telling them that there was possibly an alien ship in orbit; probably hostile and definitely destructive. Even though few really believed it, some scientists and ordinary people were starting to worry that there really was a spaceship of alien origin orbiting the Earth, and that they were doomed, especially the people at the McKinley Rocket Base. Others conjectured that the supposed aliens were like Klaatu from the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still"; wanting to protect themselves from any possible hostile actions from twentieth century Earth. They all realized on the Enterprise that it wouldn't be long before a major panic would set in down below, rivaling the panic that set in at the launch of Sputnik. Rumors of an alien invasion were spreading, and, just like Orson Well's fictional account, the possibility of a worldwide panic was very real. Like the fictional (or was he real?) account of Captain Christopher, Kirk told her that he couldn't beam her down, figuring that she knew too much about them, and that he couldn't risk beaming her back to the surface and have some yokel observe her materialize, apparently out of thin air. Also, in order to beam her down, he would have to lower the shields, and he would be confirming the Earth's inhabitants' paranoia about an alien ship in orbit, getting ready to destroy them and invade the planet. So, Claudia was stuck for now, in the twentieth century, on a starship she always thought was fictional.

Dr. Dupree had announced that Roberta had sustained a severe concussion, and that she would be out for at least two days. They all realized that Claudia should have returned by now, and that something must have gone awry. Artie considered that she may have altered history, given the general public's sudden mistrust of the government and paranoia about alien abductions. The doctor had set up an I.V. to provide intravenous nutritional support for his new patient, Mrs. Fredericks giving him the suggestion, strangely enough. Myka and Peter thought that there was something a little odd about the way the good doctor was acting towards the lady regent. He was avoiding eye contact with her and seemed to feel uncomfortable in her presence. It was as if he was from a different time. The only person in the room who knew the truth about the doctor was Artie. Dr. Dupree was from the nineteenth century, just like H.G. Wells, who had just been reinstated as a warehouse agent and was currently on another assignment. H.G. Wells, long thought to be a male author, was actually a woman. She and Artie were enemies for a while, after she was taken out of suspended animation after over a century by another warehouse villain named Macpherson. Roberta/Claudia now lay on a black leather couch that was once owned by Sigmund Freud. The couch gave everyone in the room the ability to read the mind of the person on the couch, but since the young lady was out cold, there was nothing to read. Artie had chosen this couch, so when she did finally regain consciousness, they would be able to tell if she was Roberta or Claudia. Peter, being a huge closet Trekker, was still amazed that there was a real Roberta Lincoln, and felt very sorry that his carelessness caused her head injury. He sincerely hoped that she would be all right, and wondered what was happening with Claudia in the nineteen sixties.

Gary Seven knew about the panic setting in, his computer monitoring all news broadcasts. He was at a loss as to what to do to quell the growing hysteria, but sincerely hoped that the Enterprise crew was smart enough to at least hide themselves to avoid further detection. He was also worried about Roberta, even though the Enterprise crew would not harm her. Judging from what he had experienced with Kirk, they would most likely be reticent about beaming her back down to Earth. He knew, of course, that she was from the future, so any knowledge she might possess about them was no threat to them, either; nor would her knowledge change history if she would be beamed back.


	6. Roberta on the Enterprise

The Curse of Roberta's Purse-chapter 6

Claudia suggested that the Enterprise hide behind the moon, like in the movie "V" until things settle down on Earth. That way, they could lower their shields without being observed by the inhabitants and could beam her back down. Right after her suggestion, she began to feel light-headed and was not able to comprehend what the people around her were saying. She did get the distinct impression that Captain Kirk was pleased with her suggestion, but everything went black after that.

Meanwhile, in the warehouse, Roberta's purse had been placed on a nearby table. Nobody wanted to take the risk of touching it, lest they suffer the same fate as Claudia. Artie told the men present that they were perfectly safe. The curse only worked on women. They breathed sighs of relief until, a moment later; there was another orange glow from the artifact. There was a painful moan from the young lady on Freud's couch, and they realized a moment later that it was Claudia, back in her own body. Where Roberta had gone was anybody's guess, but Artie speculated that since the episode only lasted about an hour, Claudia's time in the sixties had expired, and Roberta had returned to where she belonged.

Captain Kirk had called Dr. McCoy to the bridge after Miss Lincoln seemed to pass out. Moments later, before he arrived with a medical tricorder in hand, the young lady awakened and looked quite disoriented and a little frightened. She didn't seem to recognize the bridge crew as McCoy scanned her. Puzzled, the good doctor could not find any reason why she lost consciousness, but helped her to her feet.

"Are you all right, Miss Lincoln?" He asked her with concern.

Not for the first time that day, Roberta wondered why strangers knew who she was.

"Yeah, just groovy. Say, what's the big idea? Who are you people and where am I?"

The captain and the others exchanged puzzled glances. Roberta caught sight of Spock and gasped. "What are you?"

"Captain," Spock said, addressing his commanding officer, "this is not the same young lady as the one we saw a moment ago."

"How do you know, Spock? She looks the same to me."

"I am uncertain, Captain. Miss Lincoln, please do not be frightened. We will not harm you. You are on the bridge of an orbiting spaceship called the Enterprise. I am an alien, but I am not belligerent. We are from the future and are here for historical research only."

"What's the last thing you remember?" McCoy asked her gently.

"I was in some kind of crazy warehouse with a lot of old junk. Some gal had my purse and was saying some kooky thing about my purse having the power to send people back in time. Of course, I didn't believe them. Some chick named Myka was about to try and prove to me that I was over forty years in the future, when suddenly I was whacked on the head by something. Then, I woke up here…on your bridge."

"Obviously," Spock said in an analytical tone, "some sort of transposition has taken place. The young lady who was here moments ago was probably not the real Miss Lincoln. Judging from this young lady's speech patterns, she is definitely from this era. Welcome back to the nineteen sixties, Miss Lincoln."

"Thanks…I guess." The girl paused in thought for a moment, looking a little less frightened now. "Come to think of it, those people in the warehouse were saying I looked like some chick named Claudia. Maybe this Claudia was the one who was here. By the way, why was she here?"

"We caught her trying to mess with a nuclear warhead and transported her onto our ship." Kirk answered. "She was apparently working for a man named Gary Seven, who is apparently some sort of agent from another planet, sent here to make sure your people down below don't blow yourselves to kingdom come."

"Captain, we should return Miss Lincoln to the surface. She does not belong here."

"Agreed, Spock. Lieutenant Uhura, I would like you to accompany her, to make sure no harm comes to her. Have the ship's stores prepare the proper attire."

"Aye, Captain." A black lady in a red mini dress answered.

Roberta smiled nervously as the lieutenant stood and gestured towards the two orange doors above and behind the captain's chair. They parted at their approach, much to Miss Lincoln's astonishment, and she found herself in an elevator. She did not know too many black people, and tried not to stare at her new acquaintance. She was wondering how they were going to work the elevator, seeing no buttons or switches; nor was there a floor indicator. To her astonishment, the lady just spoke their destination, which was the transporter room and told her to hang onto what appeared to be hand grips, and away they went.

Mrs. Fredericks, not exactly knowing why, suddenly realized the reason why Dr. Dupree was acting so strangely. She was an ancestor of Lieutenant Uhura's. Back in the nineteen sixties, when Uhura had beamed down with Miss Lincoln, they were observed by one sergeant Lipton, a security officer at the McKinley Rocket Base. Race relations changed after that encounter. White people began to think that black people were from another planet, and were now afraid of offending them, lest they use their advanced technology against them. Even though Dupree was from the nineteenth century, he, too, had believed the silly rumor about blacks being aliens. It wasn't silly to the people in the sixties, however. They were still speculating as to the identity of the UFO that was observed destroying a nuclear warhead with some sort of advanced laser beam, over four decades later.


	7. Myka's Turn

The Curse of Roberta's Purse-Chapter 7

Before Roberta and Nyota Uhura stepped out of the turbo lift, history reset itself. Uhura suddenly found herself back at her post on the Enterprise Bridge, all their memories of recent events wiped clean. She frowned in puzzlement for a moment, wondering how she got there, having just had breakfast. The last thing she recalled now was getting ready for her duty shift. The feeling that she was missing something quickly faded and she chalked it up to morning fogginess.

Roberta found herself back in her brown stone apartment in her bed, also with the feeling that she was missing something, but she wasn't sure what that was. Sighing with puzzlement, she sat up, shook her head with dismay, and shrugged off the strange feeling as some sort of weird dream that she couldn't remember. She stared for a moment at her orange and pink ensemble with the black sash that she had laid out the night before, draped over a wing-backed green chair in the left hand corner of her bedroom. Her alarm clock had not yet gone off, so she knew she had time to get ready for her new job as a secretary for a new firm that purportedly manufactured encyclopedias. Her new employers were very mysterious, and seemed worried about something as they gave her a slip of paper with an address to a high rise apartment building on 68th street. She got up, sighed, and dressed in the outfit she had laid out the previous night.

She made it to the subway and sat across from a harried brunette young mother with two small children; a boy and a girl. There had recently been a rash of violence in the city concerning the assassination of Martin Luther King the day before, and the young mother had instructed her children to stay low, offering them a bit of candy to keep them that way. That's the last thing Roberta saw.

Moments later, she found herself standing in some sort of warehouse office. Her little orange purse that she was holding moments ago was now on a table in front of her; for a few seconds, emitting a strange glow. It had never done that before and she stared at it in puzzlement. She felt different and looked down at herself. She was no longer wearing her cute little mini dress with the black sash. She was now wearing jeans and a plain white button-front top. On her feet, replacing the matching flats she had chosen, were brown penny loafers. Her hair was longer as well, brown in color, and she realized that she had somehow been transformed into someone else. There was a beady-eyed older gentleman with wire-rimmed spectacles standing across the small table, regarding her with a look of puzzlement. She saw a young woman around her age, standing beside the man in the wire-rimmed specs. When they found out who she was, the other girl introduced herself as Claudia Donovan. The older man was named Artie, and told her that she was over forty years in the future, knowing that she had no idea who they all were, having no memory of their previous encounter. Roberta looked them over, mumbled a 'nice to meet you', only half believing that she was in the future, and wondered out loud about Claudia's "skunk stripe" in her plain brown short hair. She was informed it was some sort of weird fashion which began in the nineteen eighties; an era in which there was apparently a form of music called punk rock. A younger gentleman stepped up from behind her, smiled as if he knew who she was, and introduced himself as one named Peter Lattimer. He welcomed her to this strange place, calling it Warehouse 13.

Myka had offered to go back in time to fix what went wrong when Claudia had switched places with Roberta. She knew nothing about the episode "Assignment: Earth", so Peter let her borrow his boxed set of second season DVD's. He was a consummate die-hard fan of the original Star Trek, knowing the episode "backwards, forwards, upside-down and sideways" and said it was one of his favorites. After viewing it for the first time, Myka could see why. She no longer wondered why there were still so many fans of this, to her, long-dead science fiction show. Peter wished he could take Roberta's place this time, but, being a man, he would have to stay in the year 2010. He envied Myka as the switch took place and wished her luck. He smiled at Claudia, now realizing that since history had reset itself, she no longer suffered from the concussion, caused by his carelessness with the football he had played with ever since he was recruited for the warehouse. He also realized that, since history had reset itself, the good doctor named Dupree that Mrs. Fredericks had called for Claudia had vanished. The white people in the room seemed more at ease with her presence, even though she had a habit of appearing at odd times in the warehouse. She was still there because she had been informed that the real Miss Uhura was one of her descendants. Myka needed to acquaint herself with the episode so she wouldn't make any mistakes upon her arrival. She had to play the role of Roberta straight so the Enterprise would not destroy the nuclear warhead and would not be detected by the Earth's inhabitants.

Myka soon found herself seated in a subway car, facing a young mother with two little children. She had given them some Life Savers candies, instructing them to keep their heads low. Apparently, there had been a rash of violence lately in the city after the assassination of Martin Luther King the day before. Myka realized that Claudia had been incorrect about the season. It was early spring, 1968. It was still chilly outside, which is probably why Claudia mistook the season for late fall. Luckily for Myka, she was familiar with New York City, already having many undercover assignments in the city as a secret service agent. She had memorized the famous address for Gary Seven's high-rise apartment building and the supposed encyclopedia publishing firm. She also thought that that was a lame cover story that Seven's ill-fated agents had come up with. She also looked down at herself to make sure that she was in the right body. She was and she smiled, thinking that she was going to enjoy this era. It seemed simpler and easier to manage. She knew that it was an era before cell phones, texting and personal computers, but she often wondered what it would have been like to not have all those fancy gadgets that she had grown accustomed to. Also, now knowing more about "Assignment: Earth" than Claudia, she felt confident about her mission. She was sure that she could play it straight and pretend to be the real Roberta Lincoln, stopping the series of events that would result in the ridiculous notion that black people were from outer space and that the Earth was about to be invaded by beings with advanced technology. She was now well-versed in the politics of this era, having Googled some information about the first man-made satellites the Enterprise may have encountered while establishing an orbit around Earth. She now knew of the hysterics surrounding the launch of Sputnik by the Russians, and realized that the people of this era were a bit paranoid about a Russian invasion. The last thing they needed was another worry about space aliens.


	8. The Soviet Republic of States

The Curse of Roberta's Purse-chapter 8

"Captain's log. Using the light speed breakaway factor, the Enterprise has moved backwards in time to the twentieth century to the year 1968. Our announced mission before we left was historical research; we told everyone that we were going back to find out if the nuclear warhead that our beloved country launched malfunctioned by accident or by design. Our actual mission that we have decided to undertake is that we have come to try and prevent the nuclear holocaust that obliterated a large population of Russians, resulting in World War Three. The war destroyed our beloved country and divided our planet into two warring factions. We Americans were enslaved by the mutated telepathic survivors and have been fighting for our freedom and the restoration of our homeland for the past three centuries. Now that we have discovered time travel, it gives us a unique opportunity to make things right and to free ourselves from the tyranny of the Russian Republic."

Suddenly, the ship shook violently.

"Riley, what was that?" Kirk asked anxiously, looking at his navigator.

"We have company, sir." The Irishman answered calmly. "I think we were just fired upon by the Potemkin. It would appear that Captain Burkhov has borrowed the Romulan Cloaking Device and followed us back in time."

An alert alarm sounded and Kirk heard another anxious voice from the transporter room. It was transporter chief Kyle.

"Sir, this is Kyle in the transporter room. An immensely powerful transporter beam has locked our circuits wide open. Someone or something is attempting to beam aboard."

Kirk flipped a communications toggle switch on his command chair.

"Security to the transporter room on the double. Set your phasers on stun and shoot immediately if it's Burkhov or one of his men."

"Acknowledged, sir. We are on our way." The security chief responded, excitement evident in her voice. Kirk glanced at his Vulcan first officer.

"Let's go, Spock. If it is Burkhov, we will have to explain our presence here when he wakes up from the stun."

The Vulcan followed him to the transporter room, where they found Montgomery Scott examining sputtering circuits.

"Whatever this transporter system is, it's not from Burkhov's ship but from an incredibly powerful signal reaching us from at least one thousand light years away."

"That's impossible, Scotty. No transporter beam could reach that far, not even in our century."

"Captain," Spock announced, looking towards a transporter platform with interest. "Someone is beaming aboard."

The security men had their phasers trained on the area where the new arrival was materializing. Correction: two new arrivals. One was a man dressed in a twentieth century business suit. He was holding a black cat with a shimmering ribbon-like collar. He stepped calmly off the platform.

"Why have you intercepted me?" He asked tranquilly. "Please identify yourselves."

Kirk stared at the new arrival for a few seconds, astonished at his calm demeanor. If the man was really a man of this century, he would have been at the very least surprised or frightened by his surroundings. Kirk came to the conclusion that he could be from the starship that had followed them back in time, despite the fact that the new arrival had no detectable Russian accent. He glanced at the security officers, who kept their weapons at the ready.

"I'm Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise." Kirk answered warily. "Who are you?"

Warehouse 13 had not yet been discovered by the Russian authorities, which was quite a feat, considering it had been over forty years since they had taken complete control of the United States, renaming it the Soviet Republic of States. The warehouse was also protected from Russian incursion by a number of advanced security devices in their employ. When Myka returned, she was appalled to learn that she had not been successful, and had made things much worse than had Claudia. She had been sure that she had played the part of Roberta Lincoln exactly like in the original episode, except for the fact that she hadn't clunked Mr. Seven over the head with the metal box and something seemed a little odd about his attitude when the warhead exploded. He seemed quite somber and shaken. She was whisked away back to the warehouse before she had discovered that the warhead had impacted just outside of Moscow. They all decided to view the only existing episode of "Assignment: Earth" again to get some answers. Peter's DVD was protected somehow from the alternate time line. They found out that this episode had never aired in this reality; nor had any episode after first season. In this reality, Roddenberry could not bring himself to invent a Russian character, considering the world war that had begun. He could not think of another nationality to use, so the series ended abruptly after first season. Myka had thought that she did everything right, until they got to the part when Roberta had fiddled with the controls of Seven's transporter and had yanked him away from Scotty's attempt to beam him back aboard the Enterprise. Myka had not done that. After they Googled the historical information in this time line with their computer, they came to the conclusion that Seven had been detained by the Enterprise too long, resulting in the nuclear warhead being dropped, obliterating all life in the Russian city. It also occurred to Claudia that Mr. Chekov had probably never been born; his ancestors wiped out by the nuclear fallout. Roberta's purse still remained, and they wondered how they were going to fix things now. Artie wondered if Claudia could go back again; this time making sure to do everything right, including yanking Mr. Seven away from Scotty in time to save the world and the United States and to fix things so there would once again be three seasons of the original television series and millions of die hard fans. They soon found out that they could as she opened the purse again.


	9. Isis' Little Secret

The Curse of Roberta's Purse, Chapter 9

Isis listened with interest as the men from the future discussed what was happening down below. She felt very comfortable in the Vulcan's arms, but knew she couldn't stay. Her human companion, she knew, had just affected his escape from the Enterprise brig cell and had called out to her telepathically, after quickly finding the transporter room, stunning the men present with his servo. As Isis quickly made her way into the room, she told him with her mind that there was not much time left. They had to return to the surface in order to scare the inhabitants out of the idea of this ridiculous arms race.

"I know, Isis." Seven said, scooping her up and setting the controls. "Don't worry. We will be gone before they get here."

They made it onto one of the transporter pads, dematerializing just as Kirk, Spock and McCoy raced into the room, too late to stop them.

As Seven and Isis made it back to their apartment, they found that they could relax for the moment. Seven carried Isis to the window, trying to collect his thoughts. Isis commented with her mind that this was a primitive era and Seven agreed aloud. He considered that something might have happened to the two agents who were assigned to divert the course of the warhead as he looked down at the busy street below. They were nice people on that starship from the future, but obviously ignorant of his mission here on this planet. They could not delay much longer. As Seven turned on his computer, Isis leaped onto one of the orange chairs near the concealed transporter entrance, regarding him quizzically.

Isis had enjoyed being held by the Vulcan from the future and sensed that there was something a little different about him; something she couldn't quite figure out. Perhaps he wasn't fully Vulcan, but a Vulcan/human hybrid. A true Vulcan would not have bothered to pet her, but she felt this Vulcan to be strangely drawn to her. She, however, knew that she had little time to speculate. She was also concerned about recent events on this planet, and wondered briefly as to who would be masquerading as the young Miss Lincoln this time. She was the only one who knew that Miss Lincoln had appeared in many forms. Isis, of course, remembered the original one fondly, and felt sad and disappointed that Seven had fired her for no apparent reason. Isis had decided to employ some of her planet's advanced technology to make sure that Miss Lincoln, in whatever form she took, would always be around for her to enjoy. While the original Miss Lincoln was in the other room watching the very puzzled police officers rematerialize after being accidentally beamed to the ship from the future, she had quickly morphed into human form and placed the sophisticated time travel device under the lining of Roberta's purse. It was also her way of insuring that she would have ample opportunity to find out more about female human beings in this primitive time frame, having not seen too many of her own gender. She knew she couldn't tell Seven of her plans for the device. He would have stopped her.

This time, Claudia found herself to the entrance to Seven's apartment. She turned the knob on the door and let herself in. Smiling, she decided to say Roberta's lines word for word just for fun as she stepped to the closet to hang up her cape. She briefly looked down at the funky little purse dangling from her arm, wondering how and why it had caused so much trouble during the past or next forty-plus years.

"Hello? Anybody here?" She smiled as she opened the closet. "Looks like your lucky day, Roberta. They can't dock you if they don't know you're late."

She heard another door open, and turned to see Mr. Seven eyeing her irritably.

"Where have you been?" He asked gruffly.

"Oh, the subway got stalled." Claudia answered smartly.

"Where have you been during the last three Earth days?"

Claudia knew that he thought she was one of his agents, but decided to continue her masquerade. She had viewed the Star Trek episode at least ten times before opening that infernal little purse again, this time knowing the episode as well as Peter had. She knew that their lives and the future of her country depended on it.

"Now wait a minute. Why should I tell you? Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Supervisor 194, code-named Gary Seven. Where is 347?"

"With 348?"

"201, code responses are not necessary. I must say you play your role well. Sit down and give me a report of your whereabouts for the past three days."

"A report? I don't know what you mean." She answered, not so truthfully this time, complying with his request, setting the little orange purse on the desk in front of her.

He impatiently gestured towards the electric typewriter. This time, she was prepared for its extraordinary attributes.

"Type a report of everything you have done for the last three Earth days!" He handed her a sheet of paper and she inserted it into the typewriter as he turned it on. She began to type like a normal person. "Not with your fingers!"

"Now how do expect me to type, with my toes?"

She feigned astonishment as the typewriter began to type everything she just uttered. "Did you see that? The machine typed everything I…It's typing everything I'm saying! Where did you get this thing? It's incredible!" She knew that her words deviated from the episode, but she didn't want to be the little savage that the real Roberta had been. She truly liked this gadget and didn't want to damage it. Seven wasn't about to take any chances with his sophisticated equipment. He turned it off and called for the computer to scan her.

"Computer, scan the unidentified female present."

"_Roberta Lincoln. Race: human. Employed by agents 201 and 347. Identifying characteristics: small mole on left shoulder…somewhat larger star-shaped birthmark on her upper right buttock. Although her behavior appears erratic, she possesses a high I.Q."_

Mr. Seven knew now that he had made a mistake. She was not an agent but a civilian. However, he could not let her go, knowing that she had obtained knowledge about who he was. Also, judging by how calmly she reacted to the advanced technology, he thought of her now as a security risk. He quickly locked the doors and aimed his servo at her. Claudia now knew that he meant to hold her against her will and that she was now his prisoner.

"Look, friend. Maybe I just better call the police right now." She considered lying to him by telling him that she had a can of mace in her purse, but then wondered if women from this era carried the stuff around with them. She decided that they probably did not. She reached for the phone, about to dial 9-1-1. She suddenly heard a female voice from behind, telling her that the emergency service would not be available for at least another decade. She turned and saw Isis in human form, who smiled at her, knowing who she really was and welcoming her back.


	10. Gary Seven's Little Joke

The Curse of Roberta's Purse, chapter 10

Mr. Seven glared at Isis for a moment, upset about her revealing her shape-shifting ability to whom he thought was a primitive yokel of this era. His expression turned from anger into puzzlement when the young lady smiled calmly, as if seeing a shape-shifting alien morph right in front of her happened every day. He also wondered what Isis meant by welcoming her back, certain that he had never laid eyes on the petite twenty-year-old blonde girl before. Claudia stepped forward, deciding this time that it was best for expediency sake to reveal everything about who she really was and her mission here.

"Hello again, Mr. Seven. Believe it or not, we have met before." She raised her hands in surrender, hoping he would lower his servo. He didn't.

"Who are you and how do you know so much about us?" He asked suspiciously.

"My real name is Claudia Donovan and I am from over forty years in the future. I am here this time to make sure World War Three doesn't start, by pulling you back with your safe-like transporter before Scotty can beam you back on board the Enterprise. The last time, when my friend Myka was here as Roberta, she didn't fiddle with the controls and Scott beamed you back. They detained you too long, thus letting the warhead detonate just outside of the Russian city of Moscow." She paused and was a little amused at his astonished expression as he finally lowered his servo. He continued to stare at her incredulously as she continued. "Kirk and Spock are due to arrive at your door any minute now. I have to be out there in the foyer to stall them so you can go to that rocket base and do your thing with the missile."

"How do you know all this?" Seven asked, aghast. "Where is the real Miss Lincoln?"

"Probably at Warehouse 13 in the future. That's a building that holds objects and people that have otherworldly qualities. That's where I come from, via her groovy little purse that somehow transports people into the past to relive your first meeting with her. It's been whisking gals like me into the past for over forty years. Trust me, Mr. Seven. It would take too long to explain how I know all this. Time is of the essence. Leave now to get a head start. I am sure you already know what happened to agents 201 and 347 by now."

Seven nodded, his mouth hanging open in utter astonishment.

"There is one thing that I am concerned about." Isis interrupted smoothly. "How are you going to know when Scott will try and beam Mr. Seven back, Miss Donovan?"

"I will need Mr. Seven's help with that, Isis. Sir, do you have some sort of communications device? If I remember correctly, it won't take much time for Scotty to lock onto you and beam you back, once he locates you with the weather satellite. Going right now will give you more time to accomplish your task. When you are certain that you can get the warhead to go off course manually from here, contact me and I will beam you back. Quick, show me which buttons to push and which knobs to turn." Seven wordlessly did just that and activated the transporter, disappearing into a blue haze with an astounded and puzzled look on his face, leaving the map of the rocket base in his haste on his desk next to the green blinking sensor cube.

Gary Seven stepped out of the storage building after materialization was complete at the McKinley Rocket Base. As the doors slid closed behind him and the transporter effect dissipated, he and Isis approached a nearby concession stand for spectators. He didn't have to wait too long before a security man named Lipton approached him. The young woman who had called herself Claudia had insisted that Isis accompany him, in her words, to make things as right as possible again. By now, he believed her incredible story about being from the future, also knowing about the warehouses holding all the mysterious and troublesome items this planet had, for he had once worked for them himself. She also had such a serious expression on her young face that he knew that she believed what she was saying about preventing World War Three. It had to be true, for there was no way a civilian from the nineteen sixties could know all about him and Isis too.

Lipton had seen the mysterious gentleman in the business suit step out of the storage building, also noticing a strange blue haze that seemed to vanish quickly. It was enough to get his attention. His first thought when he saw the blue haze was that the mystery man holding the black cat was smoking pot, but he could not detect the distinctive odor of weed and a joint was nowhere to be found. He sighed, considering that he may be up to something, anyway. He approached him, asking to see his credentials.

"Sure, Sarge." Seven answered affably, withdrawing his wallet out of his breast pocket of his blazer and then choosing a previously forged I.D. card from it. The guard took it and read it curiously.

"Uh…what's a tribble?"

Startled, Seven realized that he had given him the wrong card. He quickly took it from him, hoping that the security man didn't see the date that that card was issued. He was a member of the North American Tribble Breeding Association, a twenty-third century organization dedicated to protecting this endangered alien species.

"Sorry, sir. That was a joke." He quickly put the card back in his wallet and produced the correct one.

"I will have to get confirmation on this, Colonel." The man eyed him as if he thought Seven was a bit Looney Tunes. "Put your cat down and keep your hands where I can see them."

Seven complied as the man went to a nearby security phone and looked down at Isis, admonishing her to stay out from under foot. He actually spoke to her telepathically, asking her to fake being stepped on so the sergeant could be distracted enough for him to use the happy beam on his servo. After accomplishing this, he led the dazed man to the floor of a nearby parking garage, telling him to go ahead and take a nap after taking the phone receiver away from him, reading his name tag, and, using his name, saying everything was all straightened out. He couldn't help but smile a little as he surreptitiously made his way to the gantry.

Roberta couldn't believe at first that she was over forty years in the future, until she noticed the unusual technology around her. She also wanted to see what was outside of the strange building that she was in, but the man named Artie told her that she might get hurt, and he couldn't risk that. Even though the Russians had disappeared and history had apparently reset itself, he was concerned about Peter's supersonic football possibly injuring her for the second time. He couldn't allow that. Suddenly, there was the sound of someone entering the room through a secret entry way. They all gasped in astonishment as they recognized the new arrival. It was an older woman, and she looked like the actress who had originally played Roberta.


	11. Don't Dunk it in the Goop!

The Curse of Roberta's Purse

Chapter 11

When Claudia got the call from Seven to beam him back to his place, she had just managed to open the door to the safe-like enclosure. She knew that she had very little time to beam him back to the apartment before Kirk and company could. She thought she had remembered the correct combination of dials and switches, but soon found out that she was wrong. With a gasp and an expletive, she found herself being pulled apart an atom at a time, as she was drawn into the transporter effect. It didn't hurt, but it was an odd sensation. She thought she saw Seven in the matter stream, and he looked mighty peeved. They both ended up on the starship Enterprise this time. Claudia wondered briefly where Isis had gone. She didn't materialize with them, and Claudia hoped that wherever she was, she was all right.

Seven got up from the transporter pad he was sitting on and glared at Claudia angrily. However, he knew that they had just a few minutes before the nuclear warhead would divert from its planned course and then plummet dangerously towards the Earth's surface. Sighing, he offered her a hand off the platform.

"Sorry, Mr. Seven. I thought I had the sequence down to transport you back before Scotty did."

"Well, it's obvious you didn't, Claudia." He answered with a frustrated sigh, glancing at the chief engineer, who looked a little surprised to see a young lady with their former prisoner. "However, we don't have time to talk about it. We have to stop that missile before it crashes into the planet. Mr. Scott, this is an emergency situation! There is a nuclear warhead about to deviate from its programmed flight path and plunge into the heart of Europe. We have to phaser it immediately—"

"And quickly hide behind the moon to avoid detection by the Earth's scientists!" Claudia added smartly. "They have enough to panic about down there, without adding a possible alien invasion to the list."

"Where are Kirk and Spock?" Seven asked the engineer.

"They are on the planet's surface. Miss Uhura has been unable to raise them on their communicators."

Remembering this part of the episode, Claudia realized that they were being detained for questioning at the McKinley Rocket Base, but couldn't recall how they had finally managed to escape the custody of the security personnel on the base. As if on cue, Scott called Uhura on the nearest com link and told her to break radio silence. Claudia smiled, now remembering when Spock gave one of them a neck pinch as he was picking up a communicator. She heard Kirk's voice order Scott to beam them directly to Seven's apartment.

"Sir, I have Seven and a young lass in the transporter room! They said that a warhead was heading for Earth and that we must destroy it."

"Good work, Scotty. You just earned your pay for the week. Beam us up to the ship, fast and have Chekov destroy that warhead immediately."

"Aye, sir. The young lass said something about hiding behind the moon so we won't be mistaken for a UFO."

"Good idea. Proceed fast. We don't want to set off a nuclear holocaust. Energize."

Meanwhile, in the warehouse in the twenty-first century, the older Roberta was worried that she may have been too late to retrieve her purse. They all found out that Isis had been mistaken about Roberta being fired. She explained that she had been on her first solo mission as an intergalactic agent, and Seven did not want her new friend Isis to interfere. Artie had just taken a bucket of purple goop off a nearby shelf, and was ready to dunk the artifact into it to neutralize its power. She stepped forward, holding her hand up urgently.

"Hold it, Artie! Don't dunk it! The purse isn't really cursed! There is advanced alien time-travel technology under the lining! Let me have it and I will take it back to the sixties and have Isis deactivate it."

"Claudia isn't back yet." He glanced at the young Roberta, who was staring at her older self in disbelief, and was still in Claudia's body. The purse was still on the table in front of her, and suddenly, it gave off the orange glow. Roberta staggered and gasped as she went back to where she belonged. Claudia was back, and smiled at the new arrival.

"Are you Teri Garr?"

"No, but I get that a lot. I'm Roberta. Please let me have my purse back. I need to return it so this time line can end."

There was the unmistakable sound of a battering ram as the technology police were trying to bash their way into the complex. Artie suddenly realized that there was no sign of any kind of technology in the warehouse office other than the little purse. His computers had vanished. Technology had been outlawed after the incident with the warhead being mysteriously destroyed, and despite the efforts of the Enterprise to avoid detection, the Earth's inhabitants became fearful that aliens were going to destroy any kind of technology they might happen to launch, so they made laws to avoid developing advanced technology so they wouldn't upset whatever might be up in space. They quickly did as she asked, and she smiled as she vanished, clutching her old purse lovingly to her chest, saying she had missed it and the sixties and thanking them for not dunking it in the goop. As she disappeared, things returned to normal, and Roberta managed to make things right at last.

The End


End file.
